Italy - IOM reports that 294,450 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea in 2016 through 12 September, arriving mostly in Greece and Italy, where 126,931 migrants or refugees have arrived during 2016.

Italy’s 2016 total is slightly higher than the 122,113 recorded through 12 September 2015. As for the region as a whole, through 2015’s first eight months (1 January–31 August) a total of 354,618 arrivals were recorded crossing the Mediterranean, or some 60,000 more than 2016’s total thus far.

While arrivals to Italy in 2016 largely have tracked 2015’s monthly arrival patterns, those to Greece have diverged sharply – with many fewer migrants and refugees coming from Turkey this year compared with last year.

Nonetheless, while total arrival numbers are down, fatalities among Mediterranean migrants and refugees now stand through this past weekend at 3,207 – exceeding by 456 the total recorded during the same period last year. According IOM’s Missing Migrants Project, Mediterranean fatalities for last year stood at 2,751 through 12 September 2015.

The latest Missing Migrants Project totals include at least nine bodies washed ashore off Libya last week, as reported by Libya’s Coast Guard.

IOM Athens reports this week 979 migrants and refugees landed by sea on Greek island through the first eight days of September, for a daily average of 122 men, women and children. That number is consistent with the daily average of arrivals during August, when 3,429 migrants and refugees entered Greece by sea.

For latest arrivals and fatalities in the Mediterranean, please visit: http://migration.iom.int/europe
Learn more about Missing Migrants Project at: http://missingmigrants.iom.int

For further information please contact:
Flavio Di Giacomo at IOM Italy, Tel: +39 347 089 8996, Email: fdigiacomo@iom.int
IOM Greece: Daniel Esdras, Tel: +30 210 9912174, Email:  iomathens@iom.int   or Kelly Namia, Tel: +30 210 9919040, +30 210 9912174, Email: knamia@iom.int
Julia Black, Global Migration Data Analysis Centre, Tel: +49 30 278 778 27, Email: jblack@iom.int
Mazen Aboulhosn, IOM Turkey, Tel: +9031245-51202, Email: aboulhosn@iom.int
Amr Taha at IOM Egypt. Tel: +202-27365140, Email: iomegypt@iom.int
Joel Millman at IOM Geneva, Tel: +41.79.103-8720, Email: jmillman@iom.int
IOM Libya. Othman Belbeisi, Tel +216 29 600389, Email: obelbeisi@iom.int  or Ashraf Hassan, Tel: +216297 94707, Email: ashassan@iom.int

For further information or interview requests in French:
Florence Kim, OIM Genève, Tel.: +41 79 103 03 42, Email: fkim@iom.int
Flavio Di Giacomo, OIM Italie, Tel: +39 347 089 8996 Email: fdigiacomo@iom.int